Mom & Dara's Visit, Part 3: Phnom Penh

On the afternoon of May 5, Mom, Dara and I caught the only daily Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. I didn't have any guesthouse reservations, because I heard it was really easy to find lots of cheap places to stay. However, after we landed and bought our $20 visas, there was literally no information center or public airport phones. So, we went outside, found a tuk tuk driver (he was really nice) and knew of plenty of guesthouses. Phnom Penh felt completely different than any part of Thailand I had been to. It felt really poor. There were many more motor bikes, only really beat up cars (except for the embassies' Range Rovers and Lexus). The roads were sometimes made of dirt and dusty, and there were very few other tourists. However, there were also many things that felt similar to Thailand- yet different. The Buddhist temples and the Royal Palace could have had me fooled for Thailand, the darker skinned Cambodians looked like many of my students, and I saw advertisements for traditional Khmer dancing- which looked an awful lot like Thailand's traditional "Khon" dance. Even the written language Khmer (pronounced "Khm-eye") could be mistaken for Thai on first glance. One thing that was definitely different, were the tons and tons of baguettes everywhere you went; Cambodia was colonized by the French, and the legacy of fresh baguette bread has remained! I have never once seen a baguette in Thailand.

There isn't much to do in Phnom Penh, but it is a city with extraordinary history, and the tuk tuk drivers have the main attractions down to a tee. We only spent one night and the following morning in Phnom Penh, but we were able to make it to the Royal Palace, the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, and the Tuol Sleng Prison. I only briefly learned about the Cambodian Genocide in a course on genocides in college, but actually being at the location was extremely moving and educational. The Cambodian Genocide took place from 1975-1979 under the Khmer Rouge regime (led by Pol Pot). To greatly simplify, the Khmer Rouge soldiers consisted mainly of former farmers and Cambodians from rural areas. They were motivated by promises of equality, and they took over after the fall of the Lon Nol government. They started by murdering any people who used to work for this government, former capitalists, and "city" people. Generally, they also killed anyone with an education: professors, doctors, students, monks, and anyone who wore glasses. They murdered them brutally and slowly- usually with tools that were used for farming such as pick axes and hoes, and they used torture to make people turn in their own parents and friends as "traitors," even if they were not. The Tuol Sleng Prison used to be a school, but was turned into a prison and torture center for victims awaiting their deaths at the Killing Fields. Being at Tuol Sleng was especially erie for me because it aesthetically reminded me so much of the school I currently teach at in Thailand. Very little has been changed from the Tuol Sleng Prison or the Killing Fields, so it was a very raw, real experience. Out of a total population of 8 million Cambodians in 1970, nearly 3 million were killed. 
Disclaimer: Some of these pictures are very disturbing.
For further reading and to learn more about the Cambodian Genocide, I highly recommend the book "First They Killed My Father."

Downtown Phnom Penh

That bicycle looking carriage is called a "cyclo"

View from our tuk tuk

A monk rides a motorbike right outside the Royal Palace

The Royal Palace

Not too too crowded

Beautiful French-inspired gardens

Dara, Mom, and me

Incense, lotus flowers, and the tree that Buddha's mother

gave birth to him under...felt very similar to Thailand.

"Here was the place where trucks transporting victims to be exterminated from

Tuol Sleng Prison and other places in the country stopped. Trucks would arrive

2 or 3 times a month or every 3 weeks. Each truck had 20 to 30 frightened, 

blindfolded, and silent prisoners. When the trucks arrived, the victims were led directly 

to be executed at the ditches and pits or were sent to be detained in the Dark 

and Gloomy Prison nearby. After january 07, 1979, one truck remained, 

but it has since been taken away."

"Here, was the place where victims transported from Tuol Sleng and other

places in the country were detained. Usually, when the truck arrived, the victims

were executed immediately. However, as the number of victims to be executed was 

increased up to over 300 per day, executioners failed in attempt to kill them within a 

day. That is why they were detained for execution the next day. The detention was 

constructed from wood with galvanized steel roof. Its wall was built with two layers

of flat wood were to darken and to also prevent prisoners from seeing each other.

Unfortunately, the dark and gloomy detention was dismantled in 1979."

Just an unusual tree I spotted

"Here, was the place where executioners stationed permanently at Choeung Ek

worked. The office as well as the Killing Fields were equipped with electric power 

which enabled them to conduct executions and to read and sign the rosters that 

accompanied the victims to the site at night time."

"Here, was the place where chemical substances such as DDT was kept.

Executioners scattered these substances over dead bodies of the victims at once

after the execution. This action had two purposes: Firstly to eliminate the stench

from the dead bodies which could potentially raise suspicion among people

working nearby the Killing Fields and secondly was to kill off victims who were 

buried alive."

The Killing Fields used to be surrounded by orchard trees.

"Here, was the place where the killing tools such as shackles, 

leg irons, a hatchet, knives, hoes, digging hoes, shovels, iron ox cart axles

were stored. This instrument was lost in 1979. The storage room was constructed 

from wood with a galvanized steel roof."

Mass grave of 450 people has now been covered with a 

straw roof and surrounded by a small fence.

Yes, those are human bones that are still washing up

in the heavy monsoon rains.

These children interrupted us during the tour. Trying to be

friendly foreigners, we obliged and answered their questions-

even though our audio tour was NOT easy. Then these two little

kids placed their palms together in a wai and started chanting the 

CREEPIEST "Please give us money, we have no money!!!"

chant that they'd clearly been trained to do, and memorized.

It was really disturbing. Beggar children are to be found anywhere

and everywhere in Cambodia, especially near the tourist areas.

Pits

Clothing from victims

Notice there are some children's clothing, too.

"The Killing Tree"

Executioners would hold babies by their feet and then bash

their brains against the tree. They then would throw them 

in a pit, just to the right.

The pit where babies were thrown after being beaten against the tree,

 along with their mothers, after having been raped. 

Bones and teeth of victims. Notice above the box there

are some more bones, and up close there were teeth as 

well that people continue to find.

"The Magic Tree"

This tree hung loudspeakers that blared Khmer Rouge 

propaganda. It was played very loudly to mask the screams 

of those being murdered. On the tour, they play a clip of similar

music. I have never heard a more erie sound. 

More killing pits, now excavated.

Victims' clothing still remains in some areas.

This garment is buried deep in the ground, but a tattered

piece of it has surfaced.

The Memorial Stupa

Skulls...

and skulls and skulls.

The audio tour tells you that if you look closely you 

can often tell how the person died based on bashes or 

cracks on certain parts of the skull.

The Stupa, housing hundreds of skulls, extends

high up into the sky.

Cambodian People's Party signs were EVERYWHERE.

More signs...

Dara in the back of our tuk tuk

Tuol Sleng Prison

An preserved room, where people were tortured.

Rules at the prison. Notably, one rules states:

"While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all."

Tuol Sleng Prison was converted from a former school.

View from the third level. You can see below what looks

to be a hanging-contraption, but I am not sure about this.

Tuol Sleng Prison is quiet now.

The street outside of our hotel.

Baguettes?! We are not in Thailand anymore.

French influence still abounds.